I myself would be willing to pay at least $2000 to own the Ferrari of all AK's.  I can buy one for ~$2000 used, but I would be afraid to shoot such a collector's item and in .223 and .308 the mags are tough to find and expensive.  I read on another forum that the Valmet factory tooling was destroyed by the current owners of the company, hope it's not true.  Is there any better AK to own than a Valmet?  What would it take for a U.S. company to develop and produce this rifle?  It would be a lot of money to develope the tooking.  It is similar to most stamped AK's but is different.  I hope that if one good thing comes of this barrel ban, it will be high quality U.S. made AK's that will push the design even further, even if they do cost 2-3 times more than kit guns.  To bad there aren't any late model Valmet AK parts kits floating around or easily accessible.  I especially love the old Valmet M62 models in 7.62x39 w/ their cheese grater handguard, tubular folding stock and mean looking 3 prong flash surpressor.  Does anyone know where all the Finish military Valmets went?  From I have read, Finland doesn't use Valmets in their military anymore.

Enjoy! (some Pics courtesy of Valmet.org, hope they don't mind)

Quoted: img55.imageshack.us/img55/3829/sakom92sfacialanglepicture2de.jpg

You owe me a new pair of underwear!

tag

When they were being sold on the civilian market in Finland, they were selling for about $1000.

I have no confidence that a US company can produce a well made one for any price.

The Finns still use them. Valmet was absorbed into Sako, and Sako stopped making assault rifles in like 1999 I think. THe Finnish Gov't bought cheaper AKs from China and Germany.

There are nice rifles; I was looking at a way to import one into the US a few years ago. At the time you could still import hi cap receivers. Didnt work out though.

Hey that M76 .223 looks like mine.  I was lucky enough to score a couple of the orginal 30 rounds mags within weeks of aquiring the M76, these are extremely hard to find now days.  Besides the nostagia factor, I guess I would have to agree that a Krebs Custom gun would be my choice for a shooter just for the availability of spare parts...I'm almost affraid to shoot my Valmet just because the lack of spare firing pin and extractor (Yes, I had purchased a kit from Jeff's Shooter Supply but returned it because both pieces didn't look like what's in my M76 bolt)

It won't happen, for a few reasons.

Sako 92/95 parts are almost nonexistent in the US. Even if somebody wanted to copy them, they couldn't find the parts to copy. I paid $250 for my Sako RK95 handguards ... 1 of probably 5 sets in the country.

A DSA SA58 FAL, with most of the parts made in the US, runs $1500 or so...but DSA owns an original set of blueprints. Nobody can get Sako blueprints, so everything will have to be reverse-engineered.

Cost to tool up would be outrageous.

A $2000 US made AK won't sell too well. It'll sell even worse at $2500, and at $3K, only a few die-hard Valmet collectors would buy one.

BTW, just buy a Valmet and shoot it. I shoot mine. Get one in 7.62x39, that way you can use cheap AK mags and the firing pin won't break (this happens in the .223 versions).

ETA Valmet 62 rifles are still in service with the Finnish Army. Not all units got Sakos. Don't look for parts kits any time soon.

ETA2

I'll pay $400. That's the max I'm willing to spend on a rifle.

I'm poor, what can I say.

i think it looks butt ugly.  id go with a galil insted. the stock looks like the swedish fish candies

I would be ALL OVER a true 92S.

The older Valmets hold no interest for me other than my appreciation for their quality.

What makes it $2,000 AK special?????????  

More accurate?
More Reliable?
Better ergonomics?


Other than a slightly different appearence I do not see anything worth 4-5X the price?

Quoted: The Finns still use them. Valmet was absorbed into Sako, and Sako stopped making assault rifles in like 1999 I think. THe Finnish Gov't bought cheaper AKs from China and Germany.

The foreign ones are in storage for all-out SHTF and would be used to equip 2nd and 3rd line troops.
I believe most rifles now in service are still M62.

Quoted: Quoted: img55.imageshack.us/img55/3829/sakom92sfacialanglepicture2de.jpg You owe me a new pair of underwear!

thats rich

The rear sights appear to be mounted on the top cover.  Is that the case?  If so how does that provide for accuracy?

Quoted: What makes it $2,000 AK special?????????   More accurate? More Reliable? Better ergonomics? Other than a slightly different appearence I do not see anything worth 4-5X the price?

And that slight appearence difference turns me off...
Price tag like that better have a FA switch on it somewhere...